A GOLD MINE IN THE WILDERNESS. 203 



Bravely the start up the tree was made; jab and pull, jab 

 and pull, while the straps pressed in on ankle and knee, 

 giving that peculiar sensation that cannot be described, but 

 which every climbing naturalist knows so well. Ten, 

 twenty, thirty feet were scaled, and then one's hand on the 

 opposite side of the trunk broke through some tiny earthen 

 tunnels, and, like many an unfortunate telegraph-line-man, 

 struck a live wire. At least, the sensation was very much the 

 same, only the electric shocks were here progressive, and 

 when they had reached the elbow, they were seen to be a 

 numerous and enthusiastically defensive horde of ants. At 

 one end a pair of jaws gave a firm point of leverage and 

 attachment, whereby the insect could secure a footing while 

 operating the sting from the opposite end of his anatomy. 



There have been martyrs to science as well as religion, but 

 much as one might desire to look into those nests only forty 

 feet above, it may be doubted if any man could have con- 

 trolled his feelings and coordinated his muscles sufficiently 

 to continue the ascent. The details of the- descent were hazy; 

 an exceedingly rough trunk seemed lo shoot upward through 

 one's embrace until the ground was reached and the Cas- 

 siques screamed their delight. 



They had seen many of the four-handed folk foiled in a 

 similar manner, and now this new enemy, who scaled the 

 trunk with two hands and two spurs was equally baffled by 

 the tiny allies of the birds! 



But study the colony \ve must, and selecting a line of soft, 

 springy underbrush, \ve had an Indian drop the tree on it. 

 A cloud of screaming Cassiques followed it to earth, scattering 

 only as we ran up and began to gather the young birds. Out 

 of the first nest there rushed a lizard about a foot in length, 

 brown, with head and fore-legs bright green. He scurried 

 like a streak of light across the red tailings, the speed sending 

 him up on his hind legs, so that his track was bipedal. 



